Truth
by A Twisted Vine
Summary: Katara tells a lie. Z/K


This wasn't going to be hard.

Well, it wasn't _supposed_ to be hard.

But Katara always had trouble with these kinds of games.

"It's your turn, Twinkletoes," Toph drawled, obviously getting bored with this game. They'd only been at it a few minutes, but it didn't seem to be working the way Suki said it would. Unveiling deep truths and displaying how far people are willing to go and something to those effects.

(As Aang was beginning to realize, no one was actually going to be going anywhere.)

The ragtag group was sitting around a fire, twilight upon them, mosquitoes thick in the air. Lying on his stomach, staring intently into the flames, was Zuko, still surrounded by an air of awkwardness he couldn't seem to escape when around his former mortal enemies. Suki and Sokka sat beside him, nearly in each other's laps and definitely in each other's arms. (Maybe the fire had nothing to do with why Zuko's cheeks were so red.)

Katara took her place across from them, Aang close by her side. And then there was Toph, sitting a bit further back from the fire, the light dancing off her empty eyes.

"Who do I choose?" His voice was innocent, slightly confused. The combination was rare to find in the Avatar's voice these days; the iceberg was a long time ago.

Suki snapped her attention to the boy, "Anyone you want." And then she shrugged, turned back to Sokka, who grinned at her. For the millionth time.

Aang nodded. "Okay… Katara!"

She smiled lightly, and wondered if the other's were filled with such a sense of dread upon hearing their names spoken in this game. "Yes?"

"Truth or Dare?"

Her smile faltered. The decision had seemed so clear after watching Sokka and Toph have their turns. She would choose dare, because so far they'd had two Truths and it'd been awfully boring. (Sokka often wore his dirty socks several days in a row, who knew?) And, well, it's not like Aang was going to Dare her to anything _bad_. Right? Right.

But the crooked grin on his face spoke volumes. Of a kind that was a bit too loud for her tastes. What if he… what if he dared her to _kiss_ him? Could she do it? It would just be a chaste kiss. She'd imagined herself kissing quite a few different boys, and one of those boys had been Aang. But… well, as she said, he hadn't been the _only_ one. And he certainly wasn't the most frequent.

Zuko had lifted his gaze from the fire, and was eyeing the waterbender intently.

"You know," Katara said finally, "Why is Truth even an option? No one would know if it were actually the truth."

Toph leaned forward. "I might."

Suki and Sokka seemed suddenly interested.

"Well, besides you," Katara huffed, annoyed. "We can't all feel minute vibrations through the ground." And then she sat another moment, tried to ignore Sokka's impatient sigh, and thought. And decided. She wasn't going to risk that crooked grin on Aang's face.

"Truth."

His face seemed to fall, ever so slightly. He wasn't prepared for that. Katara was supposed to choose Dare. She always chose the Dare-type option. Fate was against him, sometimes, it seemed. He glanced around the circle of people, and then caught her eyes. "Do you have romantic feelings for anyone sitting here?"

"I-" Katara stopped herself. Twilight was fading. Across the flames, Zuko seemed disinterested with the entire situation. (The entire situation being, of course, everything except her, who he was staring at quite intently.) Her face was getting was hot. This was stupid. This whole game was stupid. She didn't have time for romantic feelings. "No, I don't have romantic feelings for anyone here."

"She's lying," Sokka sang before she'd finished.

What! What did he know anyway?

Toph snorted. "You know what? You people suck at this game. I'm want to do something else."

Katara lowered her head; she couldn't look at the boy next to her. She continued not-looking-at-the-boy-next-to-her for quite some time. After all but Zuko, Aang, and Katara had left the fire and gone to train or talk or do whatever it was Suki and Sokka were doing. And well, Zuko didn't count for much, since he was for all anyone could tell, asleep. But looking had nothing to do with hearing and there was no way to ignore his disappointed tone. "Can I ask you something Katara?"

"Of course, Aang."

"Did you lie when you answered my question earlier?"

The fire prince stirred, rolled over on his side, and faced her.

She stared through the flames, past the leaping embers; let her eyes cross so that the gold of Zuko's eyes was the same color as the fire.

Had she lied earlier? "Yes."

She could _feel _the Avatar smiling next to her. And even though she'd just uttered the truth, she felt as if she'd just told a lie bigger than the one before.

Zuko closed his eyes, and rolled over.


End file.
